Abstract Focusing on adult education, founders, Olive Dame Campbell and Marguerite Butler (later Bidstrup) modeled the John C. Campbell Folk School's program on the folk schools of Denmark. The school was named in honor of Olive's late husband John C. Campbell, who had envisioned the Danish approach as an effective means of educating young adults to become productive citizens who would stay in the mountains instead of moving away to urban areas. Starting with an old farmhouse and a log barn, the...

Abstract The John C. Campbell Folk School was founded at Brasstown, North Carolina in 1925 by Olive Dame Campbell to further the educational and social vision of her late husband, John C. Campbell. Starting with an old farmhouse and a log barn, it rapidly expanded to include a farm, dairy, forestry program, forge, and a crafts and recreation program. Based on the Danish approach of linking the culture of work with that of books, its purpose was to build and enrich rural life through adult...